“The Monsters: A Sibling Love Story” is essentially what the title says: a sibling love story. Trenton native Ngozi Anyanwu, who wrote and directed the play, said, “It’s really physical. It’s really sweaty. It’s mostly about love. If you can get past the fact that there’s some violence in there, it’s really a play about family.”
Further explaining, the award-winning playwright said, “A fighter is aging. His sister shows up on his doorstep. We will learn in the play why they are not talking. We get a peek into their inner life.”
Anyanwu said she wanted to write a fight play. Her older brother was into martial arts, and she was interested in his community. She said, “I studied the people he hung out with, strong bodies that were so kind. I was very interested in the kind of personality that have their own idea. You get closer and it’s more complicated. I tend to write for artists. They work their butts off, they’re underpaid, they’re under-appreciated. To me, I was really interested in those artists.”
What surprised Anyanwu the most was the dichotomy between violence and softness/protection. “They get it all out and appear to be quite soft to me,” she said. “They had the means to knock your head off.”
Anyanwu was born in Trenton and lived there until age 7. Looking back, she remembered the elementary school she attended. “It was lovely,” she said. “A lot of Nigerian immigrants moved to New Jersey. I had a lot of family nearby. That’s how I remember it.”
The daughter of immigrant parents, Anyanwu said she was always interested in poetry. While she didn’t have anyone in her family in show business, she said she was a loud, showy kid, always entertaining people.
“My dad was a maintenance manager, a mechanical engineer. My mom works at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, approaching retirement,” said Anyanwu, who spent her teenage years in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
By the time she went to high school, she realized she wanted to be involved in theater. A scholarship program allowed her to attend Point Park University in Pittsburgh, where she received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in acting. She also attended the University of California, San Diego, where she received an MFA in acting. It was during her second year at Point Park, Anyanwu decided to get into acting.
“I had a great instructor,” she said. “He was our acting teacher. His philosophy, ‘You should be reading a play once a week,’ gives us challenges to memorize. I’ll try that. Something about going to the library every week, reading The New York Times every week. If there was one thing I was nerdy about, it] is the theater. I finally found something I want to work hard at.”
Anyanwu thinks it’s interesting that she decided to go into the arts because the hard thing about it is that it’s a volatile and unpredictable industry. She said, “Your fate is in someone else’s hands.” She worked many jobs, which she referred to as “survival jobs.” But by 2016, she tried just doing artist jobs. Ten years later, she said, “I think I’m gonna be okay.”
In addition to theater, her TV credits include “The Affair,” “Deadbeat,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Limitless,” “The Mysteries of Laura,” and HBO’s “The Deuce.” She’s a recipient of the Mimi Steinberg Award, the Djerassi Artist Residency, as well as Space on Ryder Farm, the LCT Playwrights Residency, and the Founders Award with New York Stage and Film.
Her play “Good Grief” won the Center Theatre Group’s Humanitas Award after its world premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2016. It was included on The Kilroys’ List in 2016. Her play “The Homecoming Queen” premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company on January 22, 2018.
When it comes to inspiration, Anyanwu looks to her peers. Seeing actors and writers who are slightly older made her realize she could do this. “It’s a hard road, but you’ve got to work your butt off,” she said. “Create. Look to your peers. Look
to the people you’re hanging out with. Make something with them. Don’t worry if it’s not in a big fancy theater. That will come. Get to it. Don’t wait for it to be perfect, just go for it!”
“The Monsters: A Sibling Love Story” will be held at Two River Theater from November 1 through November 23. For more information and tickets, visit: The Monsters| Two River Theater.